Singapore: Former SCDF Chief’s corruption trial

19 March 2013. Ms Pang Chor Mui, the key witness at the trial of the former head of Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Peter Lim Sin Pang told the court that he had sent a text message asking whether her company carried the radiation portal monitors shortly before a government tender was called. She took the stand for the first time during the sex-for-contracts trial yesterday (Monday).

The two met in 1996. At that time she was working for a company (Nimrod Engineering) that had sold mass decontamination portals to Civil Defence Force. The company arranged a trip for Mr. Liam and his colleague to attend an exercise in the product’s supplier’s premises in Norway. Ms. Pang was the company’s representative who took them to Norway. She referred to Lim by his Chinese name, “Sin Pang”. She told the court that they had met for lunch a few times after the trip and kept in touch. But in 1998 she lost contact with him as she was busy with work and taking care of her son after her divorce.

The prosecution had applied to cross examine the key witness on grounds that nine parts of her evidence contradicted the statements she gave to CPIB. This move by the prosecution leads to impeachment of the witness. In such cases the judge will have to decide at the end of the trial what part of the evidence will be taken into consideration.

It was revealed in the court yesterday that Ms. Pang had an intimate relationship with her managing director Tamil Selvan, that did not include sex, at the time when she had the tryst with the former civil defence chief Peter Lim on 2 May 2010. She joined Nimrod Engineering as sales manager. Within about three years she was promoted to general manager.

During that time she was with Nimrod engineering for about three years from 2006, she had met Mr. Lim infrequently for three lunches. During this time Nimrod was awarded a contract for S$13,000. But this was not the contract involved in the charge against Mr. Lim.

The prosecution’s case is that Mr. Lim tipped off Nimrod Engineering about SCDF’s need for walk-through radiation portal monitors (RPMs), even before the information was made public. SCDF had called for an open tender in April 2011.